Jan 16, 2013

Sweetwater Helping Colorado Ethanol Plant Diversify Fuel Options

Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) — Sweetwater Energy Inc., a closely
held company that isolates plant-based sugars and sells them to
biofuel or biochemical producers, won its second $100 million
contract this month.

The 15-year agreement with Front Range Energy LLC, a U.S.
ethanol producer, will allow it to replace about 7 percent of
the corn processed each year at its ethanol refinery in Windsor,
Colorado, Sweetwater said today in an e-mailed statement.

Incorporating Sweetwater’s sugars will let Front Range
produce about 3.6 million gallons a year of so-called cellulosic
ethanol, which is made from non-food sources. That will enable
the biofuel producer to enter a market that’s guaranteed to grow
during the next decade, due to government regulations, while
also improving its bottom line, said Front Range Vice President
Dan Sanders.

“Supplementing our corn with this sugar allows us to
displace some of the volatility of the corn market, with the
goal of moving a higher and higher percentage of our production
to cellulosic,” Sanders said in the statement.

U.S. gasoline and diesel producers are required to blend 36
billion gallons of biofuel a year into their products by 2022,
including 16 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuel.

Sweetwater, based in Rochester, New York, will build a
facility near Front Range’s plant to produce the fermentable
sugars. It will process woody biomass, energy sorghum and
leftover corn stalks and leaves, Jonathan Sherwood, Sweetwater’s
vice president of financial planning and analysis, said by e-
mail.

The company announced a similar deal Jan. 4 with Ace
Ethanol LLC, the owner of a 46 million-gallon ethanol plant in
Stanley, Wisconsin.

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